Secure smart contract attestation using Intel SGX

Bachelor thesis (2022)

Authors

A. Chatterjee Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

Contributors

K. Liang Cyber Security - EEMCS (mentor)
H. Chen Cyber Security - EEMCS (mentor)
Marco Zuniga Embedded Systems - EEMCS (graduation committee member)
Faculty
Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
Copyright: © 2022 Agniv Chatterjee
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Published Date

28-01-2022

Language

English

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Faculty

Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

Abstract

Blockchain networks are increasingly recognized as a disruptive technology across sectors such as online services, finance, supply chain, administration etc. They are underpinned by smart contracts which provide programmatic instruction for the blockchain to operate. A major obstacle in the widespread adoption of blockchain technology is the security of the underlying smart contracts and potentially exploitative flaws in their technical makeup that pose a risk to data privacy. Modern trusted execution environments, such as Intel SGX, leverage hardware through process of attestation and have been proposed to preserve privacy in smart contracts; however, practical research & development in this field has seen slower progress. This paper explores the process of attestation by which Intel SGX enhances smart contract security, examines development & execution of a prototype smart contract that utilizes SGX for secure e-voting and evaluates benefits & limitations of the process. Finally, we also propose improvements to our approach and present further scope of research on the topic.